Dawn of the Dead in Chicago: Zombies eat brains, split Lotus

[Polynomial P]

Nicolae Antes (NicolaeAlmighty) finished well at Waterbury with a super rogue deck two days in a row. I was impressed with the deck and PMed him about it. I was getting a bit bored of UbaStax and wanted to work on something different. This was it. We spent the last 4-6 weeks talking over PMs and AIM about the deck, making various improvements and testing with our respective teams. This is the decklist I settled on, which was 1 or two cards different than Nicolae’s current version:

DAWN OF THE DEAD v2

3 Zombie Investation
4 Squee, Goblin Naboob

4 Dark Confidant (MVP, MVP)
3 Withererd Wretch
3 Werebear

3 Life From the Loam
3 Swords to Plowshares
4 Duress
3 Null Rod
1 Aura Shards
1 Sundering Vitae

1 Demonic Tutor
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Imperial Seal

4 Bazaar of Baghdad

5 Mox
1 Lotus
4 Bayou
3 Scrubland
2 Bloodstained Mire
2 Windswept Heath
1 Forest
1 Swamp
2 Wasteland
1 Strip mine

61 Total Cards. The extra card is so that your zombies can eat brains for an extra turn.

SB:
4 Orim’s Chant
1 Seeds of Innocence
2 Oxidize
2 Sacred Ground
1 Darkblast
2 Chains of Mephistopheles
3 Ray of Revelation

This deck does a lot of things well, but nothing broken. I almost didn’t play the deck because it just doesn’t do broken things. However, it disrupts better than most fish decks, has a better draw engine, and has faster and more difficult clocks to deal with. I decided that Nicolae and I worked so hard on this deck together that I had to play it.

I play this deck in a very controlling manner most of the time. I try and get my draw engine online, either confidant or bazaar. Then I disrupt enough to get through a few creatures or zombie infestation. You can really drop your opponents’ life total quickly and you have plenty of disruption for most decks.

On to the Report, 6 Rounds, 37 people.

Round 1: Nicolae Antes playing Dawn of the Dead

Out of 37 people in the tournament I get paired up against the ONLY other person playing the same deck as me. How random.

Game 1
I think I lost the roll and Nicolae started out with a bazaar. I lead with a first turn Dark Confidant, and follow it with Zombie infestation. I think I Bazaared into Life from the Loam and make a ton of zombie tokens. Nicolae throws out some blockers, but cant stop the horde of zombies.

Game 2
Nicolae goes first, plays Dark Confidant. I match him on my first turn. He plays Withered Wretch, and being the good student, I match him. He starts to dig a bit for some answers and I find Zombie Infestation and swords his Wretch a turn or two later. We both use the Com-Bat-Step and declare both attackers and blockers and slowly my zombies bring Nicolae to his doom.

Zombies Eat Brains, 2-0

Round 2: Roland Chang playing Changstax
Nicolae got the buy, so he wrote down much of the match, but I managed to lose the paper he gave me. Frowntown.

Game 1
Roland Mulls to six, and to make matters worse I duress him before he gets a turn. He plays strip mine and mana crypt to cast some spell. I played null rod shortly after that. Roland then gets Gorilla Shaman and Welder into play, blocks a 4/4 Werebear and Balances. LFTL proceeds to keep me far ahead in the permanent count, and Roland proceeds to lose 4-5 mana crypt flips in a row.

Game 2
Roland leads off with an unimpressive first turn, while I get dark confidant. He locks me down forever with Tanglewires, until he can get both a welder and Triskelion (via Tinker or Bazaar) into play. I make many mistakes in this match, not making zombies when I had the chance, losing track of my life total, etc. Roland gets me to five life and trikes me out with a welder activation.

Game 3
We are about out of time. Roland would have won had there been no time limit as he ripped a strip mine off the top in extra turns. Oh, and he had 2x sphere of resistance out.

Zombies left unfulfilled, eat some brains 1-1-1
Overall: 1-0-1

Round 3: Mike, a local, playing Gifts Oath?

Game 1
I go first, with an uneventful swamp go. He has a significantly better turn going Mox, Orchard, Oath, go. I frown. Zombies do not do well against angels. I play something of little consequence, and he oaths up colossus and I decide I better see what other tricks he has. He oaths up Akroma next turn and into the grave goes tinker, will, gifts, FOF and other juicy spells…interesting.

Game 2
I get turn 1 confidant and turn 2 confidant. I don’t think I ever resolved another spell though, as he played counterspell, after mana drain, after force after counterspell. Dark Confidant and his twin go all the way, 4 points of damage at a time.

Game 3
I start with my most broken play of the day: Land, lotus, Dark Confidant and Withered Wretch. He gets out an Oath, but I Ray of Revelation it (countered) then flash it back. He plays FOF, in a last ditch attempt to find something before my creatures beat him down and reveals Recall and 4 mana sources. He takes the recall, then plays Gaea’s blessing targeting Recall, Demonic, and Walk. Withered Wretch has a feast of Recall, Demonic, and Walk. Once he is at 2 life, he hardcasts Akroma, but the angel cannot save him from my zombies and spirit tokens.

Zombies eat brains, 2-1 (Munch munch munch)
Overall 2-0-1

Round 4: Ben Carp, playing ICBM Oath
Ben was much nicer than I expected, considering the reputation of his brother. I learn Dan is home sick and we talk a bit about Gilded Claw before we start.

Game 1: I keep a hand of 2x Swords and a Duress, with lands to back it up. He leads with Chalice at 1. Great. I play bazaar, and he cannot find an oath or orchard, giving me time to dig dig dig. I go through 60% of my library and cannot find a tutor or a card that can get me from under the chalice at 1. Ben is really confused as I fill up my graveyard, and proceeds to write down every card I throw out….all 30 of them. Eventually he gets his combo and wins.

Game 2: He cant handle multiple Ray of Revelations and I win with something. I didn’t take notes.

Game 3: He plays land go, I play Duress, finding 2x Oath, Force, Brainstorm, Orchard?, and something else. I take the Oath, and let him go. He plays the Oath, but my Ray of revelation, then flashback is too much for him. I get some strips going and he dies of his own spirit tokens.

Zombies Eat Brains, 2-1 (Munch munch munch)
Overall 3-0-1 At this point I need to win one of my two matches to make top 8

Round 5: Mike Carey???, playing teched out UW Fish, with 4x Magus main. Nice Job Mike.
However, my zombies don’t care about Magus….

Game 1: I duress, and take a daze, so I can resolve Zombie infestation on turn two. I also see stifle, meddling mage, magus and some lands. I then make zombie tokens and overwhelm him. He had no chance.

Game 2: Mike goes broken, with Lotus, Recall, Tundra, Old Man of the Sea. Umm, that sucks for me. I swords it on my first turn, and in the next two turns Mike plays 2x Needle, hitting bazaar and zombie infestation. I sided out all my artifact hate, simply because I thought there was nothing in UW fish to worry about. Mike wins the game at 22 life.

Game 3: Artifact hate comes back in. I resolve first turn infestation and have 2 Squees in hand. I win.

Zombies Eat Brains 2-1(Munch munch munch)
Overall 4-0-1 I can now draw into top 8 Weee!

Round 6: ID with 13Nova

I go into the Top 8 as the number 1 seed. Not sure how that happened, but it means I am paired with Matt Morisson.

Top 8: Matt Morisson, playing 5c Enchantment Stax with Suppression Field.

Nicolae takes notes round 1

Game 1:
1. Matt plays first and leads with Workshop, chalice at 1.
1. I waste his shop and play a mox.
2. Gemstone, go
2. Bayou, Werebear.
3. Wastes Bayou
3. I play bazaar and attack then use bazaar (idiot, should have used bazaar first)
4. Wastes Bazaar.
4. Waste Gemstone, attack.
5. City, Lotus, Stack.
5. Bayou, Werebear joins brother, attack.
6. Ramps stack first, sacks, chalice @1, plays swords on werebear.
6. Sack Ruby, play fetch, get swamp, attack, play bob.
7. Sacks 1 permanent, leaving him with smokestack at 2 and a city of brass.
7. I sack 2 lands, attack with bob and werebear. I had sundering vitae in hand and was told this was an error. I felt this was right. Matt was at 4 life and had to have some major luck to win. The gamble payed off in the end, and I won.

Game 2
I don’t remember much of this game, but I will try and explain it. Matt gets out an early sphere of resistance and suppression field, but we are both hurting for lands. I get a Werebear and he swords it (after 1 attack). At some point I sundering Vitae his sphere, which helps me out. So matt’s board is something like Waste, land, suppression field, and I get to 2x Waste and play bayou. I can either waste his land, or cast LFTL to get more green sources. I cast LFTL, to secure my board position, whereas Vroman says I should have wasted his land. I felt like I made the right play, wasted the rest of his lands, and won with something, athough I don’t remember what it was.

Zombies Eat Brains, against stax player who went first both games 2-0 (Munch munch munch)

Top 4: Roland Chang
I really am glad that I got to play Roland again. I felt like I learned how to play this deck throughout the day and had much advice from both Nicolae and Vroman that improved my play. I tell Roland that at least we get to finish this match.

Round 1: Roland mulligans and goes first, not doing anything spectacular on his turn. I don’t have any notes for this game, but Roland tinkered out Sundering Titan, wiping my 3 lands from the board. I play a bayou, then Life From the Loam to get green sources back before I sundering vitae the sundering titan (I am positive that is the first time that play has been made in the Top 4 of any tournament) and rebuild with LFTL and zombie tokens.

Round 2: Roland tells me he is siding in 9 cards. But he apparently forgot to side in Ray of Revelation. He mulligans, thinks for a long time and reluctantly keeps. I keep a bad hand of mox, 4 lands, squee and zombie infestation. Ok, heres the thought. He mulled. He thought a long time before keeping. He probably doesn’t have a fast hand, and he probably cant play chalice @2. I guess right. He leads with T. Crypt and welder. I topdeck and play sacred ground. I then play infestation, discarding land and squee, forcing Roland to burn my yard. We burn out our hands and get Demonic tutor, for bazaar, and then swords his Welder. This was another misplay, as Roland, being a good stax player, welded his T. Crypt back in. Great. Bazaar sucks now. I pass the turn and Roland duresses, but cant take my bazaar away from me. All this time we are trading beats: Me with 1 zombie, Roland with 1 mox monkey. After Roland’s turn I topdeck Aura Shards and cast it. Roland plays a beautiful Jesters Cap, but I topdeck Sundering Vitae and kill it before he can look at my library. Next turn I topdeck oxidize for his crypt, play Bazaar and bazaar into goodness FTW.

Zombies Eat Brains of Stax player who went first both games, 2-0 (Munch munch munch)

We wait for the other semi to finish, which takes forever. A 5c Stax player that I do not know is taking 5 minutes for each play, then decides on the wrong thing to do. Eventually, Ryan (Rhino) of GWS pulls out the win. After a quick smoke break Ryan and I discuss a split. He wants money for Richmond, I want the lotus, so we quickly agree to an amicable deal for the both of us. We decide who gets the win by playing paper, rock, scissors. Rhino wins 2-0.

The lotus is really nice too, the front is NM clean, while the back has just a bit of scuffing. MMMM, Zombies Eat Lotus.

Props:
-Nicolae Antes: Creator of Dawn of the Dead and a truly great guy to work on this deck with.
-Vroman and Team Ogre for testing this deck out with me and giving me tons of advice
-The TOs for putting up a lotus, library, drain, and bezerk, despite falling short of the 40 needed for that prize structure. Class act by those guys. The tournament was really well run too.
-All my opponents were great. There were no disputes over anything and I had a really fun time and met a lot of people from Meandeck, GWS, ICBM, and BC.
-Ogre, Vroman, and Kevin for making the trip up to chicago, and Ogre for backing my purchase of the Lotus.
-Me, for being such a scrub that I can win a black lotus with the scrubbiest land ever: SCRUBLAND

Slops:
-No place nearby to eat lunch or anything.
-Waking up before that lazy sun and driving to Chicago.

[Changster]

Jacob, way to rock out with a rogue deck.  I really enjoyed our matches at this tournament and I hope to see you at many more future tournies.  Nice report 

-Ro

[Polynomial P]

Hey, Thanks Roland. It was great to finally meet you. Did you get the Drain or Bezerk for finishing in the Top 4?

I should have mentioned this earlier in the report:

Dawn of the Deck was amazing throughout the day. It has really good game against Stax, Oath (post side), any sort of aggro deck, Gifts, and is so-so vs. Slaver and Combo. It doesnt look like much on paper, but it really is a good deck. I partially think this deck loses to most everything pre-board and gets significanlty better post board.

[NicolaeAlmighty]

I wouldn't say it loses to everything pre board, but it's matchups certainly do get better post!

Congrats ma man! Sorry I was so freakin sick that day... I was horrified of making a bad first impression with my declining health... but oh well. Great job! I'm mighty proud of ya! The deck really has gotten better 10/fold from your input!

Hopefully we'll meet up again, and this time you'll face a Nicolae @ 100% 

[PucktheCat]

Congradulations Jacob!  This deck is awesome and hilarious.

[Tha Gunslinga]

You seemed like a very nice guy, and I enjoyed our match, even though I had no clue what you were playing, which was why I was writing stuff down.  Thanks for being a good opponent.
-Ben (round 4)

[PacmanXSA]

I can't believe you took advice from Team BC

J/k and congrats to you and my dearest Nicolae

Pac

[NicolaeAlmighty]

I can't believe you took advice from Team BC

J/k and congrats to you and my dearest Nicolae

Pac

Sheesh you Canadians... Always starting scuffles  :lol:

[Polynomial P]

You seemed like a very nice guy, and I enjoyed our match, even though I had no clue what you were playing, which was why I was writing stuff down. Thanks for being a good opponent.
-Ben (round 4)

Ha, yeah, you seemed really confused. It was cool though, cause I knew what you were playing. It was a fun match and it was nice to beat an expert Oath player.

[ReAnimator]

Wow another nice finish for this deck congrats!

I'm surprised the kataki's got cut, they always seem'd better than the rods for me, but that may be a meta thing.  The Wretches seem interesting too I tried them out a few months ago, and the mana cost and resource commitment wern't worth it for the effect but maybe i should take another look at them.
Did you find the four duress's enough disruption without a couple of therapies to back them up? (obv there is the other non hand disruption) i've been thinking about adding back in a couple of last rites in place of the therapies in my build, mid game they are so huge with extra loam lands and squee's and confidant cards. What do you all think?

I think out of all the 50 person or less tournaments this deck has been played in it has only not top 8ed like 3 times out of about 10 or so. and then nicolae got those awesome finishes in the bigger events too. =)

 congrats again

-Andrew

[NicolaeAlmighty]

The problem with Kataki is Yawg Will. The deck was powerless against it. Null Rod at least slows them to the desired level.

As for Last Rites, that was the difference between mine and Jacob's list. I ran Last Rites, he ran Aura Shards main... And Rites did absolutely nothing for me. But, if you wanna talk about this, let's not clog up his thread. PM me!

Speaking of Aura Shards.... damn. That was amazing. I mean... Damn. 

[Polynomial P]

I'm fine with this thread being for deck discussion and choices as well. I tested Kataki alot versus ubastax/Stax and it didnt do anything unless I also had null rod out. They would tap down moxen, or sac a moxen to protect important artifacts. The was also the problem that you couldnt get more than one kataki out.

Replacing them with Wretch was easy. We have 4 lands in this deck that do not produce black mana, and you dont need to wipe their grave, just hit the important stuff. Nearly every good deck abuses their gave in this format, so Nicolae and I felt the Wretches were needed. In testing they were great and in the tournament they did help me throughout the day.

4 Duress were sufficient. I boarded them out alot vs. Stax and Cabal therapy is hit and miss. Last rights is a touch too slow for this deck.

Aura Shards is amazing if you get it going. I definelty would have killed to see it in a few matches.   

[Changster]

I eventually got the Drain with the split for 3rd/4th.  That deck blows my mind... and my deck (for now)... 

[vroman]

my thoughts:
you MUST play crop rotation
I do not understand the need for 61 cards
Id run dblast main
more basics would be nice

I would say you basicaly cant lose 2 out of 3 match, unless they board many ray of revelation and substantial yard hate. bazaar + null rod is the cheapest, most effective draw and disruption package in vintage. this is the core of any deck Id consider playing.

[NicolaeAlmighty]

my thoughts:
you MUST play crop rotation
I do not understand the need for 61 cards
Id run dblast main
more basics would be nice

Well, the thing about 61 cards is, unless we're a combo deck that needs to ensure the statistics line up or else it will fail, the minute difference that one card makes is obsolete.

Basics are good, but with the diversity of the spell's colors I don't think any more can be squeezed in. The Swamp and Forest have to be there cause they each play a huge part in the deck's development and immunity to Wasteland.

Darkblast could easily replace Swords #3 in the main, but we were expecting a ton of Oath after what was seen at Waterbury...

I personally put rotation back in the main, replacing Last Rites. I'm not sure how long it will stay, it may turn into Darkblast. Or Fastbond. There are infinite options with the deck!

[RThomas]

If you're planning to write a report in the future, I advise reading this report to get an idea of how to make the most of your experience into a single document.  Incredible report, Jacob.  This is the sort of thing that I enjoy reading the most out of any Magic articles.  Congratulations on the finish with a deck that you clearly had a super fun time playing.

Side note: for those of you expecting to see random Mirrodin artifacts at this tournament, (or goblins, which is what I was going to play)  you can blame faulty alarm clocks for not waking RT up early enough to attend.  Frowns all around, but I'll be back yet.  If there's another event at this venue, I'll be sure to come-- from various reports from people, it sounds like this was a most enjoyable place to play.

[Gabethebabe]

This is an extremely cool deck. Thanks for the report.

Confidant just really shines here, since you don´t run any cards > 3cc and you´re the beatdown deck.

How was Imperial Seal for you? If there is a bazaar on the table and you still have cards in your hand, you can draw the card now, but in other cases you have to wait a whole agonizing turn for that card. Is it one of the cards you´d consider cutting (e.g. I´m physically, mentally, biologically unable to play a 61 card deck)?

And what would you cut for Crop Rotation?
Since you run a couple of Tutors, wouldn´t one Kataki be worth it?

How bad is the idea to go down 1 Swords or 1 Duress?

Chains of Mephistopheles. *Frown*. Doesn´t combo really well with Bazaar, does it?

[Rapalaman1]

Great report, it's good to see that a rogue aggro deck can get through a field of top level mana drainers. Good job!

Also, the whole zombies eating brains thing was sweet 

[Polynomial P]

If you're planning to write a report in the future, I advise reading this report to get an idea of how to make the most of your experience into a single document. Incredible report, Jacob. This is the sort of thing that I enjoy reading the most out of any Magic articles. Congratulations on the finish with a deck that you clearly had a super fun time playing.

Great report, it's good to see that a rogue aggro deck can get through a field of top level mana drainers. Good job!

Also, the whole zombies eating brains thing was sweet

Thank you for the kind words RT and Rapalaman, I am glad you liked the report. Too bad you couldnt make it, RT. The tournament setting was extremely well run and the cafeteria was the perfect place for the tournament.

How was Imperial Seal for you? If there is a bazaar on the table and you still have cards in your hand, you can draw the card now, but in other cases you have to wait a whole agonizing turn for that card. Is it one of the cards you´d consider cutting (e.g. I´m physically, mentally, biologically unable to play a 61 card deck)?

Imperial seal is ok most of the time. I do side it out against several decks and in testing I was a bit disappointed when I would play seal and then my opponent would do something to make the card I tutored for worthless. That or Aura Shards could be cut.

And what would you cut for Crop Rotation?

I will probably not run crop rotation. I feel that if you have bazaar you will find life, and if you have life you will find bazaar. Also keeping a green open for a response to wasteland is not what this deck wants to do. This was probably the last card in the deck to get cut....so it is playable and I may have to re-test it. Nicolae is adding it back in, but i cant remember what he is dropping.

Since you run a couple of Tutors, wouldn´t one Kataki be worth it?

Kataki is ok, but two things: what to cut, and does it really help? It doesnt help vs. storm combo, and stax is a favorable matchup with the current configuration. The only time I felt Kataki was really useful is when you have both null rod and kataki out. Otherwise they tap down moxen to themselves or use them to keep their best artifacts. Kataki can randomly blow out an opponent, but I didnt think he was amazing.

How bad is the idea to go down 1 Swords or 1 Duress?

1 Duress: NO! 1 Swords: used to be darkblast main. Given the expected metagame at this tournament (expecting lots of Oath and tinkered out colossi) Nicolae and I wanted 3 main. Turned out to be the right call, you could change that up.

Chains of Mephistopheles. *Frown*. Doesn´t combo really well with Bazaar, does it?

Lets see, against CS or Gifts or Drain TPS: Kills thist, brainstorm, AK, hurts recall. You can dredge around chains (you choose replacement effects) and having stuff in your grave is fine for this deck. Squees can help here too. Bazaar doesnt work well with chains, but it definetly hurts you less than your opponent. Unfortunately I never played a deck where I could bring these in. They are still in the testing phase, and were the last cards added to the SB. They do need to be tested more.

Thanks for the questions Gabe.

[Hydra]

Was definitely an interesting deck to watch in action.  As far as the semis go, the Rhino/Nighbor match took forever because A. Nighbor is a naturally slow player (he once did an hour and a half game one at an Extended PTQ) and B. it was Nighbor's first time playing Stax, so inexperience with the deck was kicking him in the jewels.

I seriously went and sat on the phone for an hour after watching them play for a good 30 minutes or so.  Got bored watching the matches with a migrane.

Also, you definitely get props from me for abusing Aura Shards.  To think that no one thought it could be done...

[NicolaeAlmighty]

Actually the one card difference between our decks was: he had maindeck Shards, I had a Last Rites. I wanted more hand disruption, but didn't like therapy... Last Rites struck me as a cheap Mind Twist... Never worked out for me. I put Crop Rotation back in it's spot, but I may or may not keep it. I never had a problem finding Bazaar with all the library manipulation/ Confidants.

Did ya'll see the front page of Star City today? A new Dawn has risen...

About the combo matchup...

It's not as bad as people think. As long as it isn't freaking Meandeck Tendrils with a 75% win on turn 1 ratio. Dawn has all the tools to beat any combo... Duress eats at hand, Null Rod/ Strip effects deny mana, Orim's Chant denys tempo. Chant was amazing for me! I was playing against a Tendrils build and I chanted him two upkeeps in a row denying him the win... Had the turn order had been reversed and I had the extra turn, the game would have been mine. Oh well, I'll take a draw over a loss anyday 

[Gabethebabe]

Thanks PP for answering my questions. I have a couple more:
- Off-colour mox > Mana Crypt? Sure: you have only one spell that requires 2 colourless mana, but Crypt can help you casting two spells. The damage you take could it be relevant? You are the aggro deck, by all means.

- The deck is mainly B/g with onlySwords as white spell (but lotsa stuff in the SB). Have you considered cutting white for red or blue? Blue could be good for stuff like Walk and Ancestral and maybe a Chain of vapour or two as removal spell. Red adds stuff like Artifact Mutation, REB. Is white the best tertiary colour?

[Polynomial P]

All questions are welcome Gabe.

Nicolae's Waterbury version didnt run Mox sapphire (his decklist is posted wrong on SCG if it has sapphire) and I had to convince him that it belonged in the deck. For the precise reason you said, mana crypt is not included. No spell you will cast costs 2 colorless, while everything has a  in it. The damage between Dark confidants/fetches do add up too and you have no reliable way to get rid of mana crypt if you dont want it out anymore. While you are the aggro deck it actually takes you a while to win, so the crypt damage may be too much for too little of an effect. Also, This deck dosnt often cast more than 1 spell a turn. I know that sounds strange....but you want to get 2 land and bazaar into play, get infest out, and life into strip effects. Mana crypt may help with 2 spells/turn, but we are under the impression that it is not needed.

We chose white as a support color for an answer to colossus and to absolutely destroy oath (Ray of Rev was so huge for me all day long). Sacred ground is pretty good too I hear. But this is where I hope people start to play around with this deck. Blue could work well, Time walk could be HUGE and it gives you bounce too. Red gives you REB, but then you have no answer to colossus. Artifact mutation would probably not make the cut since you want spells that destroy Chalice @2. I think ReAnimator from TMD used a BGr version awhile ago in a thread buried somewhere. The possibilities are endless...and as nicolae would say: Innovate!

Hope this helped.

EDIT: I couldnt figure out what spell had 2 colorless in it. But once I did...it doesnt work so well with Mana crypt does it? 

[ReAnimator]

- The deck is mainly B/g with onlySwords as white spell (but lotsa stuff in the SB). Have you considered cutting white for red or blue? Blue could be good for stuff like Walk and Ancestral and maybe a Chain of vapour or two as removal spell. Red adds stuff like Artifact Mutation, REB. Is white the best tertiary colour?

Well the deck is totally different now and doesn't play even the same gameplan at all, but here is the original thread started in November, the page that I'm linking to has the brainstorming about going white or blue at the bottom:
http://www.themanadrain.com/index.php?topic=25424.60

It was pretty much decided that because of our metagames having lots of oath and aggro (fish) that white for swords was the way to go. But seeing how the deck only uses swords now (md anyway) maybe its time to go back and try it out with the blue splash for brokenness and echoing truth in place of swords.
The one problem with Etruth is that it still doesn't solve the chalice at 2 problem even though it is more of a catch all solution.
It may be possible to go with 2 Etruth and one chain of vapour, the blue splash also gives you one more useable tutor in mystical, which might even be able to bring the number of loams down possibly. If you do drop the swords you pretty much have to run the Dblast main or else welders will eat you alive, and that's sort of annoying to have only one solution instead of 3 (albeit that once you have the blast that is all you will ever need.)
The one card i would really want to try if going blue would be daze, i don't know if there is room, but it seems to fit the strategy pretty well.

Red didn't really offer the deck as much as the other colours did though, thats why it was dropped pretty early on.

The white sideboard cards are amazing though which will sort of be the hard thing to make up. There are substitutions but Ray is the hard one, maybe its possible to run one white dual in the board for when you need them, and still go blue for everything else. Energy flux is one card that blue seems to offer that white and green can't.

[exit music]

I'm a huge fan of this deck. I took notice of it when it won a small tournament in ontario and have been so thrilled to see it win all over the place.

I have a small comment for you... I think that instead of Aura Shards and Sundering Vitae I would just play 2x Oxidize.

The purpose of that slot is to #1, destroy chalice at 2; #2, kill other problem artifacts such as pithing needle, stax lock cards, ect. Chalice for 1 isn't a huge problem for your deck... it shuts off your tutors and Stps, not that bad.

Oxidize blows up an artifact for an incredibly low price - at the very worst, you can destroy a mox which is so much better than getting stuck with a 3cc drain target in your hand.

[Komatteru]

Aura Shards seems like a real beating to me.  The only thing holding the card back is its casting cost really.  The fact that it says "comes into play under your control" is sooooo savage with Zombie Infestation.

I was also curious about Oxidize.

[Juggernaut GO]

aura shards eats brains  MUNCH MUNCH MUNCH

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After playing a bunch more test games both pre and post SB, I have a few more comments about the deck...

The 61st card is your third Withered Wretch. He's incredibly horrible in multiples, and he's occasionally horrible in singles. He does administer some heavy disruption in certain circumstances, but because of his highly situational disruption, you don't want to be drawing into him that often. You also don't really need him in the first 4-5 turns because you will probably be casting other threats and throwing your strongest assault on your opponent. At this point, you want to draw Wretch because you have the extra mana to sink into him which will put the final spike into your opponent. You don't need to see him early game, so the third isn't needed. 60 cards is just so much better, don't you think?

Here is the Sideboard I have been testing (intended for a "standard" Uba/Gifts/Slaver/Oath" Metagame):

4 Chalice of the Void
4 Ray of Revelation
3 Choke
2 Seeds of Innocence
2 Oxidize

The chalices do a pretty nice job at shoring up your toughest opponent, dedicated combo. I feel that Chalice does a better job at disrupting both Belcher and Grim Long, along with any other Ritual-based combo when compared to Orim's Chant.

Orim's' Chant acts as a timewalk, or a counterspell to Yawgmoth's will against Gifts, however, I think you are better off to use some hardcore heavy disruption for that match... Choke is absolutely insane. Remeber when GWS Oath ran Choke in its sideboard, even though they use MD Islands, just because it is such a house against Gifts/Slaver? Ultimately, I think they cut it for extract, but in your deck, there is absolutely no drawback to Choke. It wrecks Gifts' mana base - when this thing resolves, they are put in a situation where they must win fast, or else they are out of game. It is also ridiculous against Slaver, TT Confidant/Confidant control, T1T variants, ect ect. It's a huge drain target, which is my biggest worry, but hopefully you are clever enough to play around mana drain.

I moved it up to 4 Ray of Revelations because it is so important to the Oath matchup. Oath turns from an impossible match to an easy one becase of Ray, and as such, it is really important to draw, especially in multiples, so 4 in the SB seems effective and neccessary. It is also a beating against dragon.

To shore up the Uba/5c Stax matches, I move the final 2 Oxidizes into the maindeck, alongside 2 Seeds of Innocence. I use 2 MD Oxidizes, so after SB I have four in the deck. I have to admit that I stole most of this SB's strategy from GWS's Oath list, but remember: it works. Oxidize is a 4of in Oath's SB; I think it is equally as useful in this deck's sideboard. Seeds of Innocence has a rediculosly powerful effect. Rack and Ruin - gives you enough breathing room so you can occasionally wiggle out of the lock. Seeds - wipes their board of permanents... and then win because they have no permanents.

I'm really digging this sideboard - I love how these colours give me incredibly effective hate against every deck in the format. I feel happy going up againt anything in game 2.

[Polynomial P]

I personally did not include oxidize in this list because stax players will randomly chalice @1 against decks they do not know (see my morrison matchup). Additionally Vitae kills enchantments too, so I felt it was better utility mainboard. Aura shards is ok, but you really need to have infestatation in play before Stax chalices at 2, otherwise the card is useless. Aura shards may be a win more card and could be switched out for oxidize.

I do not think cutting a wretch will be a good idea. I love the card and want to see him in nearly every game. So what if you get an extra one? 2 mana for a 2/2 is not terrible and his ability is so important against a wide variety of decks. I also really fear storm combo...and he helps.

On your sideboard: Chalice is an interesting addition to the SB...and i might steal that and test it out in place of the chants.

Ray of Revelation should be only a 3-of. It helps you only in the Oath and 5c Enchantment stax decks. I played 4 games with Ray as a 3 of and it was perfect. 4 might be fine if Oath is >40% of the field....but i think that is overkill

Choke was tried by Nicolae in his SB and he told me he is switching it out for Chains of M. Choke is very powerful if it resolves, but it may come out a turn too late in this deck. I know he played agaisnt slaver...so it would be more appropriate for him to comment on Choke.

Seeds and Oxidizes side are great. No complaint there. But did you outright drop darkblast and sacred ground? This mana base is terrible. Sacred ground can be really really good.

The storm combo matchup is obviously the most troublesome and I do fear it. I dont think i can have any "I play this and win" cards against them, but combining a decent clock with many forms of disruption may be enough. If anyone tests this matchup please send me a PM of how it goes. Thanks.

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Hey man,

I personally did not include oxidize in this list because stax players will randomly chalice @1 against decks they do not know (see my morrison matchup). Additionally Vitae kills enchantments too, so I felt it was better utility mainboard. Aura shards is ok, but you really need to have infestatation in play before Stax chalices at 2, otherwise the card is useless. Aura shards may be a win more card and could be switched out for oxidize.

The only enchantment in T1 that you worry about game 1 is Oath of Druids, and honestly, I really don't think a single Vitae handles that match very well. It does have advantages against Stax, but against every other deck in T1 (including Oath), I would rather see oxidize. A common play I make is EOT Oxidize on a mox; against Gifts, I wouldn't even attempt it since 3 mana is a huge drain target for such a relatively small effect. Oxidize doubles as a wasteland better than your other utility removal and for this reason, I would run both in the MD compared to your other hate. Losing some 3cc artifact removal does nothing to damage an already even Stax match. Oxidize is a better tempo card, even against stax unless they have Chalice @ 1, which isn't a key play against us.

I do not think cutting a wretch will be a good idea. I love the card and want to see him in nearly every game. So what if you get an extra one? 2 mana for a 2/2 is not terrible and his ability is so important against a wide variety of decks. I also really fear storm combo...and he helps.

In Vintange, in a 3 colour deck, running a 2/2 for BB is a terrible play unless he's got a really kickass ability. I will admit, his ability is situationally kickass, however, it's also shit against a whole bunch of decks, and it's even shit against the right decks in the wrong circumstances. He's nice against Storm, and if Storm combo is a huge part of your metagame - huge enough that you want this bitch in your hand almost every game - go ahead and run 3 of them. Null Rod does a pretty good job at temporarily slowing down Yawgmoth's Will, so I really don't think this guy in needed as a 3 of, especially in game one. You yourself said that game 1 isn't hugely in your favor against anything; I think you must extend this philosophy and trim the fat of your deck. 60 cards is mathematically better than 61 for consistancy reasons. I wouldn't put myself at an immediate disadvantage before every game starts, no matter how relatively insignificant it is. You have 3 tutors to fetch him if you are desperate, plus an awesome draw engine that will help you dig into it within the first 5 turns fairly consistantly for those matches where he's great. I feel this deck is improving very quickly through the changes you've made; however, optimization of the deck is simply impossible when you are running 61 cards. This change isn't significant, but I feel that it takes the deck a small step towards the goal of "optimization."

Ray of Revelation should be only a 3-of. It helps you only in the Oath and 5c Enchantment stax decks. I played 4 games with Ray as a 3 of and it was perfect. 4 might be fine if Oath is >40% of the field....but i think that is overkill

Obviously SB should be heavily geared toward your own metagame, and since I was constucting my SB for a theoretical meta of Gifts/Slaver/Uba/Oath, I wanted to give myself as many possible SB bombs as possible against each of those. If you are having no problems G2-3 against Oath with only 3 Rays, that's great. It frees up a slot, which would be turned into a Darkblast, probably.

Choke was tried by Nicolae in his SB and he told me he is switching it out for Chains of M. Choke is very powerful if it resolves, but it may come out a turn too late in this deck. I know he played agaisnt slaver...so it would be more appropriate for him to comment on Choke.

Gifts is my pet deck - If I am a specialist on any deck in type one, it would definitely be Gifts Ungiven based control. I have not played *that* many post SB games against Gifts with this deck; probably between 10-15ish. I have tested Gifts dozens of times post SB against Choke Oath, which is exactly how I was shown the brutality of Choke. Every game when I got Choke to resolve against Gifts, I won the game. It takes an uncanny nack for reading your opponent to figure out whether or not he's got a mana drain, but if you are sure he doesn't (via either Duress or intuition), Choke is a massive bomb that wins you the game. Chains of Meph can hurt Gifts and Slaver, but it doesn't come close to putting them out of the game. Remember, Gifts' draw engine is based on tutors, not actually drawing spells. Chains does nothing to stop them from Merchant scrolling into Gifts/Mystical and then comboing you out, Tinkering out a Colossus, or pwning you with Flame/Vault. Choke forces them to have an answer immediately or else they will lose. Chains is a soft lock card that occasionally results in a game win when combined with the other powerful disruption in your deck. As a Gifts player, I am so much more terrified of Choke than Chains of Meph. At the very least, I think you should do some serious testing with the card to see my point.

Re: Sacred Ground

The card has a powerful effect, but it doesn't help you combat Chalice @2, which is Stax's best lock card against you. Your deck can handle 1 or 2 watelands, but has serious trouble dealing with a strip-lock. Artifact removal takes out Smokestack, Crucible, Chalice and each other soft-lock cards stax has against you, whereas Sacred Ground is only effective (albeit extremely effective) against a few lock-parts. Since you already have Loam as a semi-answer to Stax/Crucible, I think you are probably better off with dedicated artifact removal that handles any threat you are faced with.

The key to winning against Belcher is Null Rod on the back of Chalice @ 1. This is similar to how you should plan on beating Storm combo. I don't think that Orim's Chant is any better at stopping the tendrils deck than Stifle is. Chalice gives you a proactive way to slow down the rate at which the opposing combo deck develops, compared to Chant, which only helps stop their win condition on the turn they attempt to win.

I'll keep you informed on further testing I do with this deck via PM - I'm interested to hear rebuttle/comments.